To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Depression, and K.K.K.

Atticus Finch defending Tom Robinson in the rape trial against the Ewells.

To Kill A Mockingbird

Scout and Jem

Atticus shootingthe Mad Dog, Old Tim Johnson.

The Great Depression

This began in 1929 when people bought stocks with borrowed money, knownas selling short. When the stock was called the price was due and people couldn't pay all they had borrowed. Panic set in and stock values plummeted because if people couldn't pay the debt, the stocks lost value. Debtors ran to banks which didn't have enough money to pay all depositors. The economy crashed. Without money, people couldn't regain the ability to do business, even farm. Goods were in short supply and tens of thousands of people lost jobs. In some areas of the country there were massive droughts, called the dust bowl. The new President Roosevelt tried all kinds of spending measures to stimulate the economy, with limited success. WW II perhaps provided the solution the nation needed. Even today there is a split between those who support deficit spending to create jobs and those who oppose this.

K.K.K

Ku Klux Klan

The Ku Klux Klan is a racist, anti-Semitic movement with a commitment to extreme violence to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy. Of all the types of right-wing hate groups that exist in the United States, the Klan remains the one with the greatest number of national and local organizations around the country.